Nana Mizuki─from Anime to J-pop
─Helen Yeh
One of the biggest names in J-pop today is Nana Mizuki, whose strong voice has gained her a huge following. With ten studio albums under her belt, she has brought over a dozen singles to the top ten of the Japanese charts.
Mizuki's stardom is impressive because she's one of the few voice actresses to have successfully crossed over to the pop music genre. In all, she has given her voice to more than 150 movie, game, TV, and anime characters, gaining notice as Aria in Sister Princess and Hinata Hyuga in Naruto. She became famous for her role as Fate Testarossa in the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series. Mizuki's opening theme song for this anime series broke into the top ten of Japan's Oricon chart.
Known for playing timid anime characters, Mizuki has also come to be recognized for her more aggressive pop-singing voice. With the release of each album, she has moved away from the influence of anime music to a more rock-inspired sound. This stylistic break has proven successful. In 2011, Mizuki was a winner of the Billboard Japan Music Awards' Top Pop Artists award. Her moment of triumph came that same year when she became the first voice actress to hold a concert at Tokyo Dome. 水樹奈奈：從動漫到流行樂的聲優天后 水樹奈奈是現今日本流行樂壇名氣最響亮的藝人之一，其強有力的歌聲為她贏得眾多支持者。她已發行十張錄音室專輯，有超過十二支單曲打入日本排行榜前十名。
水樹奈奈的明星地位讓人印象深刻，因為她是少數成功跨界到流行樂的配音演員。她總共為超過一百五十個電影、遊戲、電視和動畫角色配過音，以《妹妹公主》的亞里亞和《火影忍者》的日向雛田等角色受到矚目。她在《魔法少女奈葉》系列中以菲特．泰斯塔羅莎一角而打響名號。水樹奈奈為這個動畫系列演唱的片頭主題曲也打入日本公信榜前十名。
水樹奈奈以扮演膽小羞怯的動畫角色為人所知，也以較充滿幹勁的流行歌唱嗓音而逐漸獲得認可。隨著每張專輯的發行，她漸漸脫離動畫音樂的影響而走向更受搖滾樂啟發的樂風。這種風格上的突破證明是成功的。在二○一一年，水樹奈奈贏得「告示牌日本頂尖流行藝人獎」。同年，她成為首位在東京巨蛋開演唱會的女性配音員，迎來了成功的一刻。 |
